Super Mario Bros. Wonder

[Kelvin]

Absolute bullshit you can be yellow and blue Toad but not red.

Similarly fucked off that you can be normal peach, but not Pink Gold Peach.

[Snrub]

Also lame that you can only play as Yoshi in baby mode

Otherwise really loving this game, especially as I have the non original opinion of never really clicking with the NSMB games (I know this isn't one but still nice to have something new)

[Magnum Valentino]

I'm enjoying it too but the music is really annoying me.

Those American flowers commenting on my actions can away and shite as well.

[madhair60]

you can turn them off thank fully

[Magnum Valentino]

Can you also turn off the drum roll when stomping? I hate the sound design in this game.

Wowie zowie is that from something else that's also famous?

[madhair60]

yeah it's from Frank Zappa mate

[Magnum Valentino]

Brilliant I've made the flowers speak in Japanese with English subtitles and am much less annoyed.

[brat-sampson]

Only dud I've found so far is a puzzle level that was clearly designed to be played by multiple people using different characters. As Mario alone it was just weird because most of the solutions were based around blocks you would only be able to see as other characters.

Literally everything else has been a total joy. Remember that if a level isn't Green Stamped, there's still a secret there...

[Magnum Valentino]

Ah class, didn't know that

[Mr Vegetables]

I'm really, really enjoying this— it reminds me of Galaxy 2 in that things happen which completely recontextualise the space in which you're moving in, and you have to shift how you've been thinking about it in surprising ways.

And it is a very joyful game, especially in a world full of franchises doing things they have done before— somehow it feels more authentically like a Mario game from the past with all these new enemies in a new place. It's nice to be surprised by things again

[kidney]

This shit kinda wondrous.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Best 2D Mario ever, I reckon. Can't stop playing the fucking thing.

[Magnum Valentino]

I just collected the last seed in the first world and got a wee reward for it. This completion motivation thing runs DEEP.

Very compulsively playable game. Shadow-Forest level is gorgeous and the second stampede level was a brilliant early challenge.

[oggyraiding]

How much like the NSMB games is this? I found them incredibly boring and don't want to drop £50 on Wonder if it's a lot like them.

[madhair60]

you won't like it, it's basically the same. don't buy

[madhair60]

(playing artisan-tier perfectly-designed 2D Mario levels replete with brilliantly-hidden secret items and areas) UM, THIS IS VERY BORING? (looking around to make sure everyone is paying attention) I DON'T LIKE THIS BRILLIANT THING BY THE WAY?

[Kelvin]

How much like the NSMB games is this? I found them incredibly boring and don't want to drop £50 on Wonder if it's a lot like them.

I really dislike the NSMB games and was expecting to be lukewarm on this one as well.

But its fantastic. A game that's surprising and imaginative at every turn. And as far from the bland, predictable levels of NSMB as you can get.

The trailers didn't really do it justice, imo. This is a Mario game that looks, sounds and plays unlike any previous Mario 2D platformer.

[madhair60]

I really dislike the NSMB games

the bland, predictable levels of NSMB as you can get

can't even conceive of playing one of those games and not being fucking delighted by the constant invention in the level design. swear to god it's like the mandela effect or whatever. i found a secret exit in a NSMB stage the other day that was so creative in how you execute it that i actually said out loud "haha wouldn't it be funny if - fucking hell no way"

i'm not even having a go, it's your opinion, but you know when someone's opinion is so far from your experience you can't even begin to imagine feeling that way? and not only that but this view is actually the prevalent one in the games community? i swear sometimes I feel like everything in this hobby is just said and done to take the piss out of me. alright cheers.

[madhair60]

i am very very serious about Super mario.

[Kelvin]

What's really surprising is that we agree on Mario Wonder.

[brat-sampson]

There's SO MUCH more attention paid to animations and ideas in this game compared to 'New' SMB that it doesn't even compare.

Like, I know I'm asking you to actually click a link here, but... it's very clear.
https://imgur.com/OHdijyq

[madhair60]

i don't care about the visuals, though i freely admit they are better in Wonder. it's the levels in the NSMB games that are fucking great and packed with ingenuity, and it makes me sad seeing them getting so broadly slagged off despite being so fucking good. but whatever it doesn't matter. Mors vincit omnia.

[Jonhy Onioins]

This seems like a very depressing game, all the jumping around is not realistic unless the man has a nervous condition. It looks like the man undergoes torture.

[Kelvin]

i don't care about the visuals, though i freely admit they are better in Wonder. it's the levels in the NSMB games that are fucking great and packed with ingenuity, and it makes me sad seeing them getting so broadly slagged off despite being so fucking good. but whatever it doesn't matter. Mors vincit omnia.

I think there's just a really high expectation for Mario games now. If NSMB came out, exact same game, but it starred Zool or Cool Spot or a character called Digeridoo Dingo, I think that series would be talked about in much more positive terms, maybe as one of the great modern platformers. But people expect a certain level of conceptual inventiveness from each new major Mario title, and NSMB was taking baby steps forwards in its art and game design, which disappointed people.   

[Video Game Fan 2000]

nintendo got themselves into a weird position with Melee. their thing was simpler looking games that everyone could enjoy. thematically low key and with everyman characters. generic stuff but with a lot of weirdness under the hood.

then Melee happened with the joke of it being a big epic battle game about nintendo characters. but it became the title they are most identified with, so people expect big epic fanfare and absurd visual polish and the lowkey Nintendo stuff gets called baby games

same with Zelda, which stood out from RPGs and adventures by having you play as some elf kid lost in a vast world and making sense of things with minimal plot. morons got mad at Windwaker for ruining the style of the series when it was Ocarina which was the left turn with more grown up and grimey environments and explicit plot

[Beagle 2]

It's pretty much exactly what I wanted, classic Mario with a bit of modern spit and polish. The intro levels do set alarm bells ringing a bit but once it's into a groove it's blissful. I'm not seeing a big revolution, just a lot of nice touches to being it up to date. The movement feels totally normal to me.

Everybody in the family from three-years-old upwards just instantly getting it and playing together, I should really be in an advert.

[Kelvin]

It might be my GotY to be honest. Zelda was great, but I had a bunch of gripes throughout my time with it. Wonder has just been a joy ever since I started. Only minor quibble is the amount of text you have to skip through between levels.

[madhair60]

did anyone else find World 3 was a little bit... not very good? I mean, compared to 1 and 2, at least? the "trials" just didn't really land for me and then it... just ended?

[DocDaneeka]

Yeah wasn't that exciting.

Overall the difficulty is a bit low. I don't want or expect an indie platformer about depression kind of difficulty but could do with more four and five star rated levels.

[Kelvin]

Yeah wasn't that exciting.

Overall the difficulty is a bit low. I don't want or expect an indie platformer about depression kind of difficulty but could do with more four and five star rated levels.

I found one of the entrances to a secret world, that level was much harder.

Are you lot using badges? I feel like it's cheating a bit, so I'm not using them for any of the normal levels. But the game never shuts up about them, so I'm wondering if I'm missing out a bit.